Darkened Hopes
by Kirael von Voltaire
Summary: [Tales of the Abyss] I am Yume Kurayami, healer and protector of Akzeriuth... The failed protector. Everyone I knew ended up leaving me alone again in this godsforsaken world... [Rated for some language and violence, just in case.]
1. Shattered Hopes

Disclaimer: I do not own Tale of the Abyss or any of its characters, setting, or storyline.

Yume is my own creation and so is the order of words in this document.

I apoligize in advance for any out-of-character-ness.

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**Prologue**

The people of Akzeriuth depended on me. I am their healer. I am the town's fighter, protector against the bold monsters. I am to be there at all times, ready to heal and ready to fight.

I am Yume Kurayami. (Japanese pronunciation please)

The villagers are my friends and only family. Ever since I'd shown up here 10 years ago, an excited 15 year old acolyte on her first assignment, the townspeople had raised me and had been there for me. Likewise, I was there for them to dispel illness or heal broken bones. Everybody came to me, be it for injuries or just to say hello. Children would come to me and clamor for me to play with them.

Yes, I had my place in this world, and I'd vowed to keep it.

The miasma had come, slinking in through the mines to take my people's lives away. I was working harder than ever in my effort to keep them alive. From house to house I rushed, with each person I healed; there was still another ten to heal. This was a losing battle. I kept hearing their moans no matter how many of them I quieted.

Samson, one of the few miners still unaffected by the miasma, ran up to me as I headed to another stricken family.

"Yume! There are miners trapped in Tunnel 14! Please go and get them out!"

"Fine, I'll head down now. Do what you can for the sick ones!" I started for the tunnel.

Samson yelled after me, "I will! Hold on until the Kimlascan backup arrives!"

Backup. The first little bit of hope I've had all week. Hopefully, they can help up evacuate the town. But the people in the mine aren't going to wait for any backup. I've got to get to them. Now.

When the lift reached the bottom, I ran into the treacherous tunnel.

My footsteps echoed through the mine as I pounded across the tracks. Many monsters attacked me on my way down. There I quickly disposed of with Fifth fonon blasts from my dagger.

"I don't have time to play with you!" I shouted as the 6th wave of endless monsters disintegrated. "Get out of my way!"

After several more minutes of running and shooting, I arrived at the main excavation cave. The situation here was worse than the ones at the surface.

Here, many of the miners were terribly poisoned by the miasma. The victims were all on the floor, groaning and coughing horribly. Most were so sapped of their strength that they couldn't even sit up. None of them were in the condition to walk.

I got to work on the nearest person, purging his body of as much miasma as I could, not enough to be totally cured, but enough to for him to move sufficiently. I didn't have enough energy to heal everyone to perfect health. My goal here was to get all the miners healthy enough to evacuate from the mine.

The person I was healing, Thomas, stopped coughing as hard enough to get up.

"You… made it… Yume… Thank you." His voice was hoarse with coughing.

"Anytime. When backup arrives, help everyone that's able to start heading back up to the town. For now, just sit tight whilst I go help the others."

I finished him up and went to the next one, using the same procedure as before. When he was healed, I had him sit still like Thomas. I was perhaps done with nine others when I heard voices in the tunnels, getting louder with every second. Six people burst into the cave a moment later.

"Oh, this is horrible!" A teenage girl with blond hair, blue and white outfit, and a quiver on her back gasped.

I got up and approached the group.

"Are you the backup crew?"

"Yes, we are," This time, a bespectacled man with vivid red eyes, auburn hair, and a teal colored uniform spoke. "What can we do to help?"

"One of you can escort the healed miners back to town while the others of you can help me heal the people with gels or magic." I turned back to the miners. "Can those of you I've already worked on please get together and head back to Akzeriuth? I know it will be difficult, but please help each other get there."

The sitting miners all slowly and wearily got up to lurch over to me. The healthier ones grasped onto the arms of their weaker comrades to keep them standing.

As a brown-clad swordsman led the active group back out, the two girls, the aforementioned archer and a young girl in pink with black pigtails, ran off to help my friends. The uniformed man and two teenage boys, one with hair of red and the other of green, headed further into the mine, presumably to find the source of the miasma.

We healed all to the miners, the process going much faster with three people working and the fact that the archer could heal with magic as well, and the swordsman had returned from his last escort trip. Things were looking very much better than before.

"Well, that's the last of them," he said. "All those monsters were a pain…"

"Are you hurt, Guy?" The archer inquired. Guy, the swordsman, shook his head.

"Nah, they weren't difficult; there were just a lot of them."

"I'm tired!" pouted the youngest girl.

"As am I. Healing is exhausting!" The other girl agreed. "By the way, what is your name?" She asked me.

"Oh, I'm Yume," I beamed at them. "Thank you all for your help—"

Three more people ran into the room, two from the direction of Akzeriuth and the man who'd gone deeper into the cave. The newcomers consisted of a sandy-haired young woman and another redheaded, black and red uniformed young man of roughly the same age. The woman stopped in front of us while the young man pounded on into the tunnel the man with glasses had just run out of.

"Tear, what is it?" The crimson-eyed man spoke curtly.

"The Seventh Fonstone was a fake, a ruse to lure me away. I was almost captured by Oracle Knights that were waiting there. Apparently, Van wanted to keep me safe from the danger here." The woman, Tear, answered.

"How do you know this?"

"Asch told me. He also mentioned that Van was planning to use Luke for something here. Where's Luke?"

"Luke and Ion went in further than I did. Van will probably have been waiting deeper inside for them. If so, we must stop them now."

The danger here? What was that Van person going to do? I'm pretty sure that whatever he's planning to do in the mine will not be good for Akzeriuth…

I followed the others as they all ran down the tunnel, determined to stop whatever it was that was a danger near my town and people.

I had never known that the mine of Tunnel 14 extended this deep. It used to be that it ended in the cave past where the miners fell ill, at a strange, multicolored contraption the size of a door. Now, it seems that it was a door, leading into a brightly lit chamber just beyond. It was a cylindrically shaped room, supported by a ramp that circled down to the center. In the center was a shining sphere of light, whose rays cascaded down endlessly.

As we came into this chamber, the light flashed and the earth started shaking violently. The ramp was deteriorating, breaking off into pieces. We jumped off at the top of the ramp to land at the bottom. Guy ran to the platform extending to the light sphere to collect the non-uniformed red-haired boy while the girl in pink dragged the boy of green hair. Both boys were barely conscious.

"Everyone, get around me. Hurry!" Tear ordered and started singing in a foreign language. The people gathered around her as a fonic circle appeared on the ground around them.

Due to my lack of outstanding physical abilities, I'd landed father from her than anyone else, and in my clumsy haste, tripped on the quaking earth and fell as a dome of crystal appeared, shielding them from the outside, merely 10 feet from where I lay, struggling to get back up.

The earth above us broke apart as rocks fell from the ceiling. I cast a Guardian spell around myself, but it was too weak to really repel the rocks. It held for about five seconds and then I was buried under the piling rubble.

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I will attempt to be a little more consistent in writing this one, unlike my previous fic. (I'd finished playing ToS at the time and had forgotten all of the details of the game. Don't worry, I'd only gotten to this part in ToA a week ago, so ideas will be fresher in my head. On the other hand, exams are coming up and I need to study for them. Gomennasai!) Please Read and Review! 


	2. Mud, Miasma, and Murderer

Do I really need to state the Disclaimer again? Or what I own or don't own?

Unless something new comes up, I will refrain from saying anything at the top or bottom. Please Read and Enjoy.**  
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**Chapter One**

I woke up from my knock-out aching with bruises all over. A cursory check revealed that I was relatively unharmed, save for oozing cuts on my face and arms, nothing that my Holy Staff couldn't fix. There were probably cuts on my back too. Amazingly, I wasn't buried under the rocks like I was supposed to be. Perhaps those people from earlier pulled me out… Yes, they did; my staff and dagger were placed beside me.

I sat up to look around. The sky existed no longer, and in its place was this purple fog. The absence of most light gave it its purplish hue. Around me were piles of rocks with evidence of being shifted. The seven people from before were scattered around the vicinity. We were currently on a large section of rock that was relatively flat. Surrounding the rock was a sea of thick bubbling — gunk, not unlike swamp tar.

Where was Akzeriuth? Did the whole city fall along with us? I know we could only have fallen, but that such a place existed underground was a little illogical, for as you know, the mantle is a layer of shifting liquid rock and metal. Was the rest of the city besides this rock submerged under the thick mud that served as the sea for this place's smoggy sky? Did anyone survive?

How did this happen?!

"Daddy… Mommy… Help me…"

A familiar child's weak wailing alerted me. Everyone was clustered at the edge of the slab. I swept up my stuff and ran over.

There! On the broken door! A little boy was trapped on it under the body of a dead man. It was Lancile, who'd just yesterday hugged me tight, crying with joy, after I purified his mother of the miasma. His small makeshift raft was sinking even as I was running over.

"Lancile! Hold on! Binding Extension!"

"…Yume..."

Tendrils of concentrated fonons extended swiftly from the head of my staff to fly towards the stranded boy. It reached him just after he'd sunk beneath the mud. My spell swiped in vain at his spot where he disappeared and came back without him.

Another child, gone. Right in front of me. And I couldn't save him. Could only swing and miss, the most important shot of them all.

Heh. Some healer I am.

"Lancile… I'm sorry…" Tears slid down my face as I stared out at the greedy, sucking sludge that had extinguished so many flames.

The other people had their heads bowed when I turned to face them.

"Were there… any survivors?" Even without hearing it voiced, I knew what the answer would be. It was a hopeless question whose answer was written on all their faces.

"No… there wasn't…" Tear whispered.

To think that everyone I'd ever known was now dead… All of my friends, my family, even the family of my birth! What could I have done? I've failed in keeping my town alive. Cast out once again from a place I could call home. What can I possibly do now? It seems like everyone I know is fated to die, fated to leave me here, alone like I used to be…

"Let us move. This rock may become engulfed in mud as well," The red-eyed man is proving to be a rather practical person. "The Tartarus would be a more ideal place to chat." Apparently, the other people had been talking while I had been grieving.

"Why don't you come along with us, healer? The boy with green hair was addressing me.

"I will."

There was nowhere else to go anyway.

A military landship was floating in the mud behind a particularly tall pile of rocks. How it got there and how it was floating was beyond me. I can only assume that it had fallen down here along with the remnants of Akzeriuth. Either way, we were all safe from sinking in the mud here on the deck of the Tartarus.

There was something strange about the way everyone was distancing themselves away from the red-haired boy. (Not the uniformed redhead. Him I hadn't seen since he'd run into the tunnel.) Everyone except the sky blue… cheagle?

I stood on the opposite side of the group, wondering why this was so and why Akzeriuth collapsed. All possible scientific explanations were flying rapidly through my mind.

"I'm sorry, but who are all you people…?" I mumbled. "And what really happened? Do you know?" My manners were really flying out the winder there.

Tear answered first, unaware that I'd already picked up her name earlier. "I'm Tear Grants. I'm sorry we had to meet under these circumstances…"

Another person, the blond swordsman, had a smile on his face that was withering by the second. "You can call me Guy…"

"My name is Natalia," The lady archer had a stern posture, but her eyes still reflected sadness.

The next girl was slightly chipper. "Anise Tatlin! Fon Master Guardian!" I'd never noticed how young she was earlier, but it seemed like she was about twelve or at most thirteen. Such a small bodyguard… And was that a doll on her back?

Wait. Fon Master Guardian? "Then the Fon Master must be…" I scanned the faces of the remaining three males.

The green-haired boy looked at me with his big green eyes. He couldn't have been much older that Anise… "I'm Fon Master Ion."

"Fon Master," I averted my eyes to the ground and bowed my head slightly to him for a moment, as etiquette decreed. I dislike bowing to people; they might assume that they have power over you, or stab you while you neck is exposed.

The tall man next to him spoke next. "I'm Colonel Jade Curtiss. Jade will suffice. And you are?"

I introduced myself again. "I'm Yume Kurayami, former healer and protector of Akzeriuth… Thank you for all your help."

"…We do not deserve your thanks…" Tear looked away from me to the floor.

He then answered my inquiring glance at the silent redhead in the corner. "That would be Luke."

Hearing Luke's name, the cheagle next to him waddled over. He (I assume) had a ring around his waist. "I'm Mieu!" He (for certain now, due to his little boy's voice) squeaked with all of Anise's enthusiasm. Such big, round eyes and fluffy ears! Mieu looked like a cute stuffed animal. I almost reached out to hold him to cuddle! Except that it would be rude to do that to someone. Hehe…

"Hey! Quit leaving me out!" A loud, obnoxious voice broke through my recent cuddly mood. That boy (with red hair) sounded like he had all the qualities of a spoiled brat. I didn't like him at all.

He took a step toward us, but the cold stares from everyone else stopped him and shut him up.

"Um, I'm missing something here…" The area around me had just dropped another forty degrees from its already freezing temperature.

Anise turned back to me with a scowl on her face and stated bluntly. "He was the one who collapsed Akzeriuth.

"WHAT?! He—?" How could one mere boy bring down an entire city?!

"Akzeriuth was built on a Sephiroth's passage ring," Ion interjected. "And the Sephiroths hold up the land."

Tear continued from where he left off. "Luke destroyed the passage ring holding up Akzeriuth with a hyperresonance."

The boy is a Seventh Fonist? He brought down my people?!

I ran up to him and grabbed the collar of his shirt, slamming him into the wall of the ship, my dagger trembling at his throat in my other hand.

"You went and collapsed the town?! What were you thinking?! Do you know how exhausted I am? I've been working all day and night healing those people endlessly for the last week! Now all my work and energy has been for nothing because of you?! All of my people are dead now because of you?!"

He protested, squirming in my grip, sounding just like the spoiled brat I'd thought he was. "It wasn't my fault! Master Van told me to—!"

SLAP. SLAP.

Releasing his shirt, I slapped and backhanded him across the face, causing him to stumble away holding his bleeding nose.

"Shut up! You went and killed thousands just because SOMEONE TOLD YOU TO?!" I had every intention of killing him right then and there with my own dagger.

Right before I could stab the little monster, Jade and Tear grabbed me and dragged me back. Jade pried the dagger from my fingers and put it into its sheath at my waist. I was struggling the whole time, lunging if I could, making it difficult for the both of them.

"Why aren't you letting me off the murdering creep? HE deserves to die a horrible death for every single life that he crushed today!"

Guy came closer, but not that close. "I know how you feel, but we can't have you killing anyone here! We just can't…"

"I say let her kill him!" Anise retorted. "If we dump him in the mud, we won't have to worry about him anymore!"

"…!" Natalia made a sound that was like a shocked gasp.

"How very bloodthirsty you two are," How could Jade be so calm? He looks like this was just an everyday chat, instead of about life and death. "As a military officer, I can't let you kill someone like this, though personally I wouldn't mind Luke's corpse being thrown overboard." He released my arm, now that I was fighting anymore.

Tear followed suit, and glared at Luke. "Van or no Van, Luke, you still destroyed Akzeriuth and killed thousands of people. All because you didn't think before doing something."

"It wasn't my fault--!" Luke yelled.

"JUST SHUT UP! IT WAS YOUR DAMN FAULT!"

I flew over to the door leading inside the ship and yanked it open, slamming it after myself, leaving a heavy silence behind.


End file.
